But it also has something new — campy humor. Not that there wasn't a kind of black humor running through the previous seasons, but “American Horror Story: Coven” ramps the silliness up an enjoyable notch with a story set in a New Orleans school for young witches.

Following a bloody prologue starring Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, “Coven” skips ahead to modern times. Young Zoe Benson (Farmiga) is discovering she's different than other girls her age. That hemorrhaging boyfriend in her bed must have been a dead give-away, so to speak. But before she can process the information, family members whisk her away to Miss Robichaux's School for Exceptional Young Ladies in New Orleans.

The school has been around for centuries, but under current headmistress Cordelia Foxx (Paulson), the syllabus is all about teaching young witches how to keep their powers in check. Zoe's classmates include Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”), movie star Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts, “We're the Millers”) and Nan (Brewer, “American Horror Story: Murder House”).

The school's educational goals don't sit well with the coven's Supreme — a kind of superwitch who has more power than run-of-the-mill witches. In this case, the Supreme is also Cordelia's mother, played by Lange, of course.

If you think Lange was over the top in previous “AHS” seasons, she goes for broke this time and seems to have as much fun doing it as we have watching it.

The rest of the cast, including Angela Bassett (“What's Love Got to Do With It ”) as Marie Laveau, a 19th-century voodoo practitioner, pulls out all the stops as well.